A Different Way
by EvaJeanie13
Summary: Naruto manages to save the Sandaime Hokage and is instead offered as sacrifice to the Shinigami. Takes place during the Chunin exams. AU story, some parody involved.
1. Chapter 1

So, I've had this idea in my head for a while and decided to try it out. Not sure if I'll continue the story, but might as well post what I get, huh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters, I'm just writing for enjoyment!

 **-NARUTO-**

"Jiji!"

Hiruzen's eyes widened at the voice, his hand signs slowing, but he could not falter. He had already sealed the two reanimated Hokages. He just had one last thing to do. He could not fail at this. His old student sneered at him, an expression forming that Hiruzen did not like. He had to finish this.

Quickly.

His eyes locked onto his student's, even while ignoring the child that had cried out to him. It would be impossible for the child to interfere anyway with the barrier in place. His hands flashed faster, finding himself in an impromptu race against the man that was facing him. Orochimaru's hands flashed through several signs as well, a combination that Hiruzen didn't recognize. The boy on the other side of the barrier shouted again and Hiruzen felt the barrier falter and fall even as he finished his last seal.

He slammed his hand against the ground even as Orochimaru copied the movement, having finished his own set of hand seals. Except his student wasn't directing his attention towards him anymore. No, he was directing it towards the child that was now rushing towards them, determination clear on his face.

"Naruto!" Hiruzen called out as light flared around Orochimaru and Naruto.

"Jiji!" Naruto cried out. He stumbled to a halt as he was surrounded by the light, fear evident in his voice. Orochimaru began laughing, even as his arms fell to his sides, useless.

"No!" Hiruzen shouted. He tried to reach out to the blonde child, hand grasping for the smaller one that reached back towards him. And then the light was gone, Naruto was gone, and Orochimaru stood there. His arms were sealed, but he was laughing. Hiruzen turned on his student, eyes flashing darkly.

"What have you done?" he demanded.

Orochimaru grinned, stepping back, chakra gathering around him. "Sent that brat exactly where you tried to send me." And with that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves as shinobi flooded into the room.

"No," Hiruzen whispered, falling to his knees in disbelief. It couldn't be. He was supposed to be the sacrifice, not Naruto. Hiruzen barely paid attention to the shinobi and ANBU surrounding him, asking him questions, and checking him over. His eyes were locked on the spot that had held the blonde child mere moments before, his heart squeezing in anguish.

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama! Tou-san!"

Hiruzen jerked and blinked at the shinobi standing before him, the one that had been calling out to him. His son.

"Asuma," Hiruzen whispered, blinking his eyes.

"What happened? Is Orochimaru?"

"He escaped," Hiruzen said. He felt bile rise in his throat; was unable to believe he had let his student go once again. "He's gone."

Asuma nodded, opening his mouth to ask another question when someone else burst into the room.

"Where is he?"

Hiruzen felt his heart clench in agony as Kakashi burst into the room, looking around.

"Orochimaru's gone," Asuma said. "He escaped."

Kakashi shook his head, his eye travelling around the room once more and Hiruzen knew exactly who he was looking for.

"He's gone," Hiruzen spoke, pulling Kakashi's gaze to him. Hiruzen realized he was still on his knees and he pushed himself to his feet, locking his emotions away as he met that blue-gray eye.

Kakashi blinked at him, looking afraid of what Hiruzen meant. "Naruto?" Kakashi's voice was hesitant.

"What?" Asuma looked from his father to his friend, confusion evident on his face. "The jinchuriki? What does he-"

"He's gone," Hiruzen repeated, cutting his son off. He wasn't sure he could say it again, wasn't sure he could keep his emotions in check for any longer, but he had to. He was the Hokage; it was his job. He couldn't fall apart.

Kakashi was shaking his head, eye wide and pleading. He wanted Hiruzen to deny his statement, but Hiruzen couldn't.

"I'm sorry," Hiruzen said, meeting Kakashi's gaze steadily, taking in the anguish blossoming there and trying to ignore his own. "I'm sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi stiffened at the sound of his pink-haired student's voice. He swallowed hard, reigning in his emotions as he turned to face the approaching students. All of them looked battered and bruised, but they were alive. Alive and standing before him with questions in their eyes. All of them there. All but one.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura spoke again as she pushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "Did you find him?"

"He really shouldn't have been running around after his fight with Gaara-kun," Asuma's student, the Nara, said. "Troublesome."

"Shikamaru," Asuma's blonde student chided.

"His flames of youth truly burn brightly!" Mini-Gai declared.

"So, where is he?" Kakashi blinked at his dark haired student who was leaning on the Nara. Sasuke looked rather the worse for wear, which was not surprising, as he had gone head to head against the One-Tail. He glanced around to all the other faces looking expectantly at him, waiting for news he knew he couldn't give them.

"Kakashi-sensei, he's alright, isn't he?" Sakura asked. She was obviously picking up on his distress, which wasn't very surprising considering he knew he wasn't hiding it well. "Naruto, he's okay, right?"

Eleven pairs of eyes blinked at him expectantly, waiting. Kakashi wondered how he had been unlucky enough to run into them. All he wanted was to retreat to his apartment, to get away from everything, to ignore everything. He had failed. Again. Again, he had lost one of those precious to him. And he didn't think he could handle it. Was surprised he hadn't fallen apart yet.

"Sensei." Sakura's voice had taken on a whole new tone, her bright green eyes widening in horror as she took a step back, shaking her head slowly, trying to deny the words Kakashi was trying to find to speak.

"He's gone," Kakashi finally managed to croak. He cleared his throat, blinking against the burning sensation in his eye.

"Where?" the Inuzuka asked. He sounded shocked.

"How?" Sasuke demanded.

Of course his genius student had picked up on exactly what he meant. Kakashi swallowed against the lump in his throat. Naruto's friends deserved to know the truth. He had to tell them, even though he didn't want to.

"He was killed, protecting the Hokage," Kakashi said, ignoring the disbelieving stares and shocked gasps. "By Orochimaru."

"No!"

Several of the children jumped as their quietest member, the Hyuuga girl, shouted out, anguish in her voice. She fell to her knees, the Inuzuka boy crouching beside her as she burst into tears. Kakashi shifted, unsure what to do. He had half a mind to run away. He should run away. He had no idea how to deal with any of this. He'd probably just make matters worse.

But at the same time, he couldn't leave the children here. Not alone. Not after learning their friend was dead.

Sakura had tears streaming down her face, still looking at Kakashi as if wishing he would deny everything he had just said. The other teams were comforting each other, and Sasuke was standing there, anger blazing in his eyes as he clenched his fists tight enough to draw blood from his palms.

"I'll kill him," Sasuke said softly. His eyes were whirling red now, three tomoes spinning. "I'll kill that snake for what he's done."

"You won't be alone," Shikamaru spoke. Kakashi was surprised at the vehemence in the Nara's voice.

"Back off," Sasuke snapped. "I don't need your help."

"Well you're getting it." This came from his pink haired student, her eyes hardening in determination even as tear tracks dried on her cheeks.

"Yeah," the Inuzuka spoke up. "Whether you want it or not."

"My friend is right!" Mini-Gai declared. "Naruto-kun is our friend as well, and his flames of youth burned brightly. We shall all avenge him!"

The others nodded in agreement as Sasuke clenched his teeth. Kakashi blinked at the eleven children standing there and wondered just when Naruto had made so many friends. He remembered shadowing the kid when he was young, remembered watching as he tried so hard to befriend someone, only to be shut down time and again. Remembered how lonely he had been growing up.

And now he had friends. A large group of them, in fact. Too bad it was too late.

Kakashi's heart clenched at that thought, shoving it to the deepest corner of his mind. More people were showing up now, circling the children. Medic-nin and shinobi and ANBU all mixed together along with the news that was spreading like wildfire.

The news that Naruto Uzumaki was dead.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so this is the last of the intro section. This should start to pick up a bit more after this, and be a bit less gloomy.

-NARUTO-

Jiraiya stood in front of the black stone, head bowed as he studied the newest additions carved in stone.

"Stupid kid," Jiraiya muttered, ignoring the tear that made its way down his cheek. Sure, Sarutobi-sensei had named him a hero. Sure, if he hadn't shown up when he did, Sarutobi-sensei would probably be dead. Jiraiya ground his teeth, hating himself for thinking that that outcome would have been preferable. But Sarutobi-sensei had lived a long life and his had only started.

He had blamed Sarutobi-sensei at first, raged at him for letting it happen, but Jiraiya could admit the truth to himself.

"Sorry, kid," Jiraiya whispered, running his fingers over the carved name. "I knew I never should have gotten involved with you. All my students die young."

Jiraiya grit his teeth together, his hand dropping from the stone to clench at his side.

"I just thought…" Jiraiya heaved a sigh and turned from the stone. "Sorry."

He made his way back to the Hokage tower. Sarutobi-sensei had asked for him to meet him this afternoon. He was late enough as it was, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he made his way slowly towards his destination.

 _"_ _Did you hear the news?"_

 _"_ _Yes, can you believe our good fortune?"_

 _"_ _I guess that demon had a purpose after all."_

 _"_ _And now we're finally free of that brat."_

Jiraiya scowled darkly at the gossiping villagers. It was the same everywhere he went, with everyone he met who did not truly know Naruto. They were celebrating his death. Jiraiya wanted to strangle them all. They knew nothing of that boy. Nothing. They had no right to say anything on the matter.

"Thank you for joining us, Jiraiya," Sarutobi-sensei said as he entered the Hokage's office, still fuming about the ignorant villagers.

Jiraiya blinked, looking around the office and catching sight of the two genin who stood in the office, looking nervous about standing before the Hokage. The one was obviously an Uchiha, the other a girl with short, pink hair. Naruto's teammates.

"Now we're just waiting on-"

"Sorry I'm late."

The Hatake brat appeared in a swirl of leaves. For once he wasn't reading one of Jiraiya's books, instead looking around the office curiously.

"Kakashi to show," Sarutobi-sensei said. He sighed, looking at the shinobi gathered before him.

"What's this about, sensei?" Jiraiya asked.

Sarutobi-sensei took a long draw on his pipe as he studied them. "I'm assigning the four of you a special mission," he began.

"What?" the pink haired girl jerked, blinking in surprise.

Sarutobi-sensei smiled at her, the expression tinged with sadness. "The events a month ago have opened my eyes to the fact that I am no longer fit for this position."

Kakashi jerked at that. "Hokage-sama that's not-"

Sarutobi-sensei held up a hand for silence. Jiraiya was glad. He hated to admit it, but he kind of agreed with his sensei's assessment.

"I am asking you four to track down Tsunade-san and convince her to return to Konoha. This village needs her."

Jiraiya was sure the genin were shocked. He was also sure Kakashi was as well.

"It'll be near impossible," Jiraiya said when the silence had stretched on long enough.

Sarutobi-sensei nodded. "That may be true, but I'm sure the four of you will find a way."

Jiraiya read in between the lines. He wanted Kakashi and his two remaining genin, along with Jiraiya himself, to focus on something besides their loss. And while he didn't like it, he could understand why.


	4. Chapter 4

Three years. Jiraiya sighs as he enters Konoha, returning for the first time in two and a half years. His student stands beside him, a scowl on his face as he looks around.

It's been three years since that tragedy. Slightly less than that since Jiraiya had taken three others in his search for his old teammate Tsunade. They had been successful at bringing her back to Konoha. Successful at convincing her she was needed as the Fifth Hokage. It hadn't been easy, though. It had taken a lot of alcohol, some well-placed bets, and a battle against Orochimaru that almost killed the two genin with them before they'd succeeded.

It's been two and a half years since Jiraiya took Sasuke with him on his travels with promises to make him stronger. The confrontation with Orochimaru in retrieving Tsunade had infuriated the young man who had sworn vengeance for his fallen friend. It had also opened Jiraiya's eyes to the truth – that his old teammate was going to stop at nothing to get to Sasuke. That was another reason he'd taken the boy with him. Not only was he equipped to deal with Orochimaru's curse seal but he could also protect the boy from Orochimaru and help him to become stronger.

Jiraiya only hopes it's enough. He's not sure he could stand to lose another student, even one as grumpy and revenge-minded as the Uchiha brat.

Both Kakashi and Sakura are waiting at the gates as they approach and Jiraiya feels overwhelming relief that Kakashi is still alive. He'd thrown himself back into ANBU the minute Sasuke had gone off with Jiraiya and Sakura had started studying under Tsunade, and Jiraiya knows he took on the most suicidal missions out there. It was the same thing the boy had done when Minato had died.

But he's standing before them, Sakura at his side, with his silly one-eyed smile and Jiraiya's own book in his hand.

"Sasuke-kun! Jiraiya-sama," Sakura calls out, waving to them.

"Yo," Kakashi says, lifting one hand in the air. "Welcome back."

Sasuke grunts, but Jiraiya can see the little smile that makes its way onto his face as he allows Sakura to pull him into a hug. Sasuke is obviously glad to be home.

The four travel to the Hokage Tower together, Sakura prattling on about everything that's happened since the last letter she'd sent to them. Kakashi keeps his nose in the little orange book and Sasuke adopts his bored expression, hands jammed in his pockets. Jiraiya smiles. Despite the tragedy they had faced those three years ago, it would seem they had come out the stronger for it.

They enter the Hokage's office and Tsunade turns from the open window to face them with a small smile.

"Welcome back," she says.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto suppresses a groan as awareness hits him full in the face. He lies perfectly still, listening to the sounds around him and feeling for any threats nearby.

 _'Kurama?'_ he questions in his mind.

 _ **'We're safe, Kit.'**_

Naruto nods and opens his eyes. There's blue sky above him, shrouded in leafy green, something he hasn't seen in years. Birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, and the whole atmosphere seems peaceful. Too peaceful, Naruto finds himself thinking.

 _'You sure we're not stuck in a genjutsu?'_

 ** _'Yes, Kit, I'm sure. Don't you remember what we were told? What happened?'_**

Naruto remembers, of course he does. But after all those years in hell, it's hard to realize that they really had escaped. That they'd made it. That they were back.

 ** _'Be grateful we are. I'm not sure we could have survived much longer there.'_**

 _'Dad wouldn't have let anything happen to us. Neither would the others.'_

 ** _'They might not have had a choice.'_**

Naruto shakes his head, not wanting to dwell on that fact any longer. He pushes himself to his feet, wavering slightly until he feels the warmth of Kurama's chakra spread through him and steady him.

"Where are we?" Naruto swallows against the dry scratchiness of his throat with a grimace.

 ** _'I'm unsure. We are in Fire Country, though.'_**

"Near Konoha?" Naruto asks.

 _ **'How should I know?'**_

"You're oh so helpful."

Naruto closes his eyes, inhaling deeply, and stretches his senses out. He's not a great sensor, but he's learning.

"I think it's this way." Naruto points north of their position.

 _ **'Then let's go.'**_

"Right."

Naruto gets three steps before the world disappears in a poof of smoke. Kurama's chakra is instantly there as he grips a well-used kunai in hand, settling into a defensive stance as the world stops spinning and the smoke clears.

"I don't believe it."

Naruto blinks, his brain sluggish as he takes in the scene before him, body still rigid in his defensive stance, his and Kurama's mixed chakra swirling around him.

"I told you you'd scare the boy! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that Gamamaru-sama was going more senile than before."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to freak the boy out. Poor dear looks ready to collapse."

"That poor dear looks ready to gut us."

"Um, excuse me?" Naruto asks, interrupting the two arguing toads in front of him.

"Naruto!"

Naruto blinks at the stunned exclamation and turns towards the voice, seeing a very large, very orange toad making his way over to him.

"Uh…"

 ** _'Toads, brat. Don't they ring any bells?'_**

"Naruto! Is that really you?" the large orange toad skids to a stop in front of him, kicking dirt over the two smaller, arguing toads.

"Gamakichi-chan, what have we told you about running around like that?" the small, woman toad asks.

"Sorry ma, sorry pa," Gamakichi says before turning his attention back on Naruto.

Naruto blinks at the large toad, a vague recollection of a small, orange toad on top of his head so long ago surfacing from his memories.

"YOU'RE GAMAKICHI!" Naruto screams, pointing at the large toad.

 ** _'And he finally makes the connection.'_**

"I think I should be the one shocked to see you," Gamakichi points out. "How are you here?"

"How should I know?" Naruto asks with a shrug, twirling the kunai in his hand and finally relaxing his stance, allowing the chakra surrounding him to dissipate. "One second I'm headed back to Konoha and the next I'm here."

"That's not exactly what I meant," Gamakichi says.

"A hem."

Naruto turns back towards the two smaller toads, looking between the two.

"We brought you here, Naruto-chan," the old woman toad says.

"Okay," Naruto replies. "Why?"

The old man toad clears his throat, stepping forward. "I am Fukasaku, and this is my wife, Shima. We brought you here because the Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru-sama, asked us to."

"Why?" Naruto asks.

"We all thought you were dead," Gamakichi says.

"Oh, right," Naruto says. He supposed that made sense. He'd been gone for quite some time and where he was, well, you weren't supposed to go there unless you were dead. "But why did you bring me here? And how long have I been gone?"

"Three years," Shima informs him.

'Huh, coulda sworn it was longer than that.'

 _ **'True, but I suppose our perception of time would be different there.'**_

 _'I guess.'_ Naruto shrugs.

"And we brought you here because Gamamaru-sama would like to speak with you," Fukasaku says. "Come with us."

Naruto looks around at his surroundings. The scenery was beautiful, lush and full of life. The air smelled so sweet and fresh. The whole area gave off a feeling of peace and safety.

"Is this Mount Myoboku?"

"Yes," Shima replies. "This is our home."

Naruto nods before following the two older toads. "See you later, Gamakichi," he calls over his shoulder with a wave of his hand.

"You bet," Gamakichi says.

 ** _'You're taking this rather well.'_**

 _'Not like there's much I can do about being here. And it's…peaceful.'_

 ** _'Humph, I suppose so. Still, I thought you wanted to get home.'_**

 _'I do. But well, we've been gone three years already. It's not like an extra day or two is going to hurt.'_

 ** _'Probably will if you don't eat and rest soon. There's only so much my chakra can do.'_**

Naruto smiles at that. It was true; he could already feel the exhaustion hovering just at the edges, waiting to pounce. As for the hunger, he didn't really feel that anymore, but he knew he needed to eat something, soon. Still…

 _'Might as well find out what they want.'_

 ** _'Stubborn.'_**

 _'You know you love me.'_

Naruto grins as he hears Kurama grumble, shifting in his mind, no doubt preparing to take a nap. He wasn't the only one who was exhausted. He just hoped he could follow his partner's example soon. He really was tired.

"Right through here, Naruto boy," Fukasaku instructs, gesturing Naruto into a hut at the top of the hill they had climbed.

Naruto glances at the small toad, before looking at his wife. Shima gives him an encouraging nod and so, with a smile in return, Naruto enters the hut.


	6. Chapter 6

Looking back on it, Naruto is sure that meeting could have gone better. Of course, being told he's going to learn Senjutsu was pretty awesome, his father had talked about it and lamented the fact that he hadn't gotten to use it much. The fact that he had to hang out on Mount Myoboku while learning wasn't horrible, either. Sure, he'd wanted to get back to Konoha as soon as possible, but like he'd told Kurama, they'd already been gone for three years. A little more time away wasn't going to make that much of a difference in his homecoming. And learning Senjutsu could make all the difference in whatever future disturbances had the wizened old sage worried.

Plus, it would be easier to stay on Mount Myoboku and complete his training now, as opposed to returning to Konoha, only to have to leave once more.

But that was as far as his meeting with the Great Toad Sage had gotten before Naruto had passed out. He supposed it was lucky he'd been sitting, it would have been even worse if he'd passed out on top of the Great Toad Sage.

It was still embarrassing though. Especially when he woke up three days later in a different hut, clean for the first time in three years and wearing clothes that were decidedly not the orange rags he'd been wearing before he'd passed out. He didn't have the nerve to ask who'd helped him in that department.

But he's awake now and Fukasaku and Shima, who he'd been told to call Pa and Ma (and not grandpa and granny sage as he'd been tempted to) were discussing his training over the meal they'd brought him.

Before his three years in hell Naruto would have balked at their offerings (none of it was exactly human food), but after some of the things he'd choked down in the belly of the Shinigami (things he really didn't want to think about), the food brought to him was very much welcomed.

And the toads were very much insistent when it came to getting him to eat. Food hadn't exactly been plentiful while stuck in that other place and Naruto had gone long days surviving on not much at all. As such, he didn't have an appetite and when he did eat, it was small portions at a time. His stomach simply couldn't handle more.

Of course, Ma had taken it upon herself to get Naruto's weight back up as he was just "skin and bones" according to her. Looking down into the toad oil pond Naruto sat beside, he had to agree with her.

"Right, that should work. Are you ready, Naruto-chan?" Ma asks, pulling Naruto from his thoughts.

Naruto smiles. "Yep. Let's get started."

~Naruto~

Their first session goes surprisingly well, leaving Naruto exhausted but feeling extremely accomplished with himself. It's peaceful on Mount Myoboku and the toads make for wonderful company.

Naruto sits outside, watching the sunset with Ma and Pa and Gamakichi and Gamabunta and Gamatatsu, feeling more at ease then he's felt in over three years. Of course, that doesn't stop the ache of missing his companions from before, even if they had been in a horrible situation.

"You okay, Naruto?" Gamakichi asks.

"Hmm? Yeah," Naruto replies, pulling his thoughts back to the present. It was his choice to return and he doesn't regret it. Besides, he knows he'll see the others again someday.

"Want to talk about it?" Ma asks, stopping her bickering with Pa to look over at the young man. She can tell he'd been through a lot, the look in his eyes gave testament to that, but he refused to say anything on the matter.

"Just thinking," Naruto says. He knows that's not the answer they want. Knows that he should probably talk about it. But while it hurts, it had also been wonderful and he's afraid if he says anything, the wonderful will go away leaving only the hurt. "Say, do you know how my friends are? How Jiraiya-sensei is? Have you seen him recently?"

"Hmm, Jiraiya-chan checks in pretty regularly. He was back in Konoha last time I heard," Ma muses.

"He summoned me three years ago," Gamakichi says, sounding proud.

Gamabunta grunts. "He didn't mean to."

"And he was with your friends," Gamakichi carries on as if he hadn't heard his father. "That pink haired one, and the Uchiha. They were fighting that snake."

"Orochimaru?" Naruto asks, eyes widening.

"Relax, Naruto-chan," Ma says. "They are all fine."

Naruto nods, leaning back and wondering just why his team was fighting Orochimaru back then. But he believes Ma when she says they are okay.

"Do you think we could tell him?" Naruto asks. "That I'm back. Can we summon him here?"

Pa shares a look with Ma and Naruto knows the answer before either speaks.

"Sorry, Naruto-chan," Pa says. "But we can't summon Jiraiya-chan like we did you. We could only do that because Gamamaru-sama asked it."

"But if Jiraiya-chan summons one of us while you're still here, we'll let him know," Ma assures him.

Naruto nods.

"Thanks," he says, turning his eyes back to the now dark sky, drinking in the sight of the stars.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, so this part was hard to write, mainly because I suck at fight scenes. But here it is. Enjoy!

~Naruto~

Sasuke stands in front of the black stone, Sakura at his side. His eyes trace over a name that shouldn't be on there. Only seven others had been added since the name that held his attention, but those didn't matter.

"I can't believe it's been three years," Sakura mutters softly next to him.

"Hn," Sasuke grunts. He's unsure what else he's supposed to say. He agrees with her. It hasn't felt that long. But at the same time, it's felt far longer.

"Where do you think he'd be at now?" Sakura asks. "If he hadn't…if he wasn't…"

"Probably at Ichiraku Ramen," Sasuke mutters, remembering the blonde's overzealous love of that place.

"That's not what a meant," Sakura says, bumping Sasuke's shoulder playfully.

"Mah, but it is true."

Sasuke smirks slightly at Sakura's surprised jump, but he had sensed the man's arrival.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura says. "Why are you here?"

Sasuke doesn't turn around, so he's unsure if Kakashi gestures at the stone or not, but the somber mood that settles around them once more makes him think that's what Kakashi had done.

Sasuke's eyes trace the name once more. He understands now why Kakashi comes here so often. For some reason, there is peace to be found here. Peace, and a strengthening desire to fulfill his promise of making that snake pay for what he'd done.

It had taken Sasuke watching Sakura fall by Kabuto's blade while they battled Orochimaru and Kabuto nearly three years ago for him to realize he needed to get stronger. And for him to realize he was stronger with a team as opposed to striking out on his own. That didn't make it easier to deal with the fact that he still hadn't gotten revenge on Orochimaru nor his brother, Itachi.

But travelling with Jiraiya had been enlightening, well, in between bouts of exposing him as a pervert in the women's baths and explaining to the man he had no interest in proof reading his smut. In-between that, he had learned a lot, and had gained a lot of experience. And coming back now, he knew he had gotten a lot stronger.

"Are you two ready?" Kakashi asks, finally breaking the silence between them.

"Hn," Sasuke replies, a slight smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"You bet," Sakura confirms, grinning. Sasuke glances over at her once more. She's grown and matured, no longer that annoying fangirl she had been back when they were twelve. And after studying under Tsunade-sama for two and a half years, Sasuke has no doubts that she became a lot stronger as well.

"Okay then," Kakashi eye smiles at them. "Let's see how much you've learned over the years."

They head to the appointed training grounds and Kakashi withdraws two little silver bells from a pocket.

"Same goal as last time," he says, removing his orange Ichi Ichi book from another pocket after affixing the bells at his waist. "You have two hours."

Sasuke immediately backs away, Sakura beside him as Kakashi buries his nose in his book.

"I've got a plan that will get those bells for sure," Sakura says, eyes a little manic as she glares over at their old sensei. "I just know it."

Sasuke eyes her for a moment. He'd been thinking of the best way to go about defeating Kakashi, but that look in Sakura's eyes has him curious. He smirks back at her, willing to listen.

~Naruto~

Kakashi looks up from his book, eye narrowing slightly. His cute little students had run off to plan a little over an hour ago and hadn't shown up since. It was now nearing the end of their test, too, and they had yet to make an attempt to grab the bells. Maybe he should go looking for them?

"Nah," Kakashi mumbles to himself, turning his attention back on the book. He only had another sixty pages to get through and the ending was really starting to get interesting.

Ten minutes later Sakura makes her presence known by charging out of the woods full force, fist pulled back to pummel Kakashi into next year. Kakashi's eye widens slightly before he Kawarimi's away, replacing himself with a log, which is blown to pieces no larger than a toothpick.

"Whew," Kakashi sighs.

He's immediately attacked from behind by an enormous fireball, which he dodges with a quick earth release. He comes up under Sakura and replaces her, leaving her stuck in the earth as he stares down at he. He had expected more from a student of Tsunade.

Sakura merely smiles up at him sweetly before swinging a fist up through the earth and Kakashi only just barely manages to dodge (he didn't think Sakura would be able to use that technique while still mostly stuck underground) only to have to kawarimi once more to dodge the Chidori Sasuke had aimed at his heart.

The second log meets as sad an end as the first as it explodes from the Chidori's contact.

"Mah," Kakashi says, turning to read the next couple of lines from his book. "You'll have to try harder than that if you want the bells."

He dodges a couple more attacks from his two students, an excellent showing of their teamwork and ability to use their skills in tandem against an opponent. The ferocity with which they continue to attack him forces him to put his book away, allowing him to use both hands without the risk of damaging his precious Ichi Ichi.

"It's a good show," Kakashi drawls, blocking a high kick from Sasuke and dodging a low kick from Sakura (he does not want to be hit by her, not with those over powered chakra blows Tsunade taught her to use). "But it seems like you both still have a lot to learn."

He eye smiles at them as they come to stop for a minute, panting softly. Sakura is in front of him (he needs to keep a closer eye on her hands so he know if those over powered punches are coming or if she strikes out with the number of debilitating hits he knows Tsunade taught her) and Sasuke is behind him, no doubt preparing another jutsu for attack. He is impressed with the arsenal of jutsu Sasuke has managed to learn and even more impressed with the boy's stamina and chakra stores. Jiraiya taught him well and the carnage of the forest training ground around them proves it.

His smile doesn't last long, though, when he notices Sakura pull out a familiar orange book and flip through to the last couple of pages.

"Let's see here," Sakura begins, grinning evilly and managing to dodge out of the way as Kakashi rushes at her. It's not his copy, but it is the same book as the one he's currently reading. The one he hasn't yet finished.

He goes to grab the book from her once more but Sasuke blocks him.

"The woman heaved a long sigh," Sakura begins. "Her eyes widening in shock as she realizes that-"

"NO!" Kakashi cries out, covering his ears in a vain attempt to block out Sakura's loud voice. "Not spoilers!"

Sakura bursts into laughter, dropping the orange book on the ground as Sasuke dances away from Kakashi, twin silver bells clutched in his hands. He unhooks the bells from each other and tosses one to Sakura, who catches it easily.

"As if we would read that smut, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura says just as the timer goes off, announcing the end of the two hours.

"Hn," Sasuke says, a smile twitching at the edges of his lips once more. "I believe we won."


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto takes to Senjutsu faster than anyone Ma and Pa have ever heard of, quickly finding the perfect balance between his chakra and nature chakra. He picks up Frog Kata easily enough; managing to mix it with his own mish mash of martial arts that comprise his fighting style with ease.

The problem comes with trying to merge with Ma and Pa. It just does not work, even with Kurama attempting to cooperate. The toads and the nine-tailed fox just didn't mix.

Of course, that doesn't stop Naruto, who quickly finds that his own clones were good for collecting sage chakra, which went to him when he dispelled them. He can only use five shadow clones when collecting nature chakra though, because more than that ruins the clones' concentration.

Naruto also finds that he can combine sage chakra with his 'nine-tailed beast mode' (not his name for it but it kind of stuck once his dad had jokingly called it that), and Ma and Pa are intrigued at the changes that affect both sage mode and tailed beast mode.

Three and a half weeks into his training and Ma and Pa believe Naruto has mastered Senjutsu, or as much of mastering it as possible when just training with it. The true test, like with all things, would be using it in the real world.

 _ **'Shukaku is in trouble.'**_

Naruto blinks, stopping his movements and going over what Kurama had told him of the other tailed beasts in his head. _'Ano, and Shukaku is…'_

 _ **'The idiotic one-tail,'**_ Kurama says, clearly not patient enough for Naruto to work that out.

 _'But that means that Gaara…'_

 ** _'Is in trouble as well, yes.'_**

 _'We've got to help them!'_

 ** _'I figured as much. They are in the Land of Sand. We should leave as soon as possible.'_**

"Right," Naruto says out loud, dodging an attack launched by Pa and glancing at his two toad teachers. "I've got to go."

"Go?" Pa asks, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto nods. "One of the other jinchurikis is in trouble. I've got to help him."

Pa glances at Ma, who nods.

"Very well, Naruto-chan," Pa says. "We were only going to recommend a couple more days to polish off your moves, anyways."

"What he's saying is that we think you are ready," Ma interrupts.

"That's what I said!" Pa says.

"No, you were yammering on about-"

"Ma! Pa!" Naruto interrupts them, well used to their bickering after spending almost a month in their company.

"Right," Pa says. "Where is your friend?"

"He's from Suna. Kurama says he's not in the village though. Not anymore."

"Suna," Ma muses.

"We'll get you as close to the village as we can," Pa says.

Naruto nods. "Thanks."

"Be sure to summon us if you need help," Gamakichi, who had been watching Naruto's training session, says.

"I will," Naruto says.

Not a second later his world is engulfed in smoke and that strange crushing twisting feeling rushes around him. When the world rights itself again it's to sand and heat and _'no, no, no, I can't be back, this can't be real, this can't be-'_

 _ **'Naruto! Calm down.'**_

Naruto latches onto that voice, steadying himself as he looks around. The sand is not gray and the sky is blue above them, the sun shining steadily down instead of the perpetual twilight that had persisted in-

 ** _'Naruto!'_**

 _'Right,'_ Naruto thinks, forcing those memories away. Now wasn't a time to panic. Gaara needed his help; he had to go now.

Calling upon Kurama's chakra, he feels himself relax slightly at the comforting cloak that surrounds him. He forms a familiar hand sign and sends the two resulting clones off to hide before looking around. "Which way?"


	9. Chapter 9

Tsunade frowns at the missive, brought by Suna's fastest messenger bird, before her. "Hawk! Get me Temari and Team Kakashi in here, ten minutes ago!" she snaps once she fully understands the message. Hawk's signal disappears and five minutes later Temari, Sasuke, and Sakura knock at her door.

"Get in here," Tsunade snaps. "Where's Kakashi?"

"He's coming," Sakura says, glancing behind her as though hoping her old sensei would appear.

"Yo," Kakashi says, appearing in a swirl of leaves and casually dodging the paperweight Tsunade chucks at him.

"You're late," Tsunade growls, before pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What's going on, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asks her mentor.

"The Kazekage has been kidnapped," Tsunade says. She was never one for sugar coating things, after all.

Temari starts, moving forward a step as though that action alone would change what Tsunade had said. "Gaara was-"

"Kidnapped, yes, that's what I said," Tsunade snaps. "I called you because I'm sending you there as aid for Suna. Gai's team will follow when we get more information from Suna."

Tsunade glances up at the poleaxed looks she's receiving.

"Um, why us?" Sakura finally asks. Not that she has a problem assisting Suna.

"Because, according to my reports it was Naruto," she ignores the tense atmosphere that fills the room at the boy's name, "who assisted the Kazekage back during the chuunin exams and who is the reason behind the strong alliance we hold with Suna now. As you were his team before, I felt it was more appropriate you be the first ones dispatched. You are also available. Unless you have any problems with that?"

"Hn," Sasuke hums, frowning slightly at the reminder of his best friend.

Kakashi tilts his head slightly.

"No," Sakura says. She still doesn't understand that logic, after all, they may have been Naruto's teammates, but they didn't know much about the Kazekage, nor did they associate with him at all after Gaara had beaten Sasuke up during the invasion, but if there was one thing she had learned while being Tsunade's student, it was that you should never argue with her.

"And you?" Tsunade asks, turning to look at Temari.

"No problems from me, as long as we can leave now," Temari says. She doesn't understand the Hokage's decision either, but she knows that Sasuke and Kakashi are no pushovers and Sakura is shaping up to be one of the best medics of their generation so she has no problems with them assisting in the rescue of her brother.

"Done, you leave now. Good luck and take care."

~Naruto~

It doesn't take long for Naruto and Kurama to track down the man attempting to escape with Gaara even after the residual Sage chakra from Naruto's training had dispersed ten minutes into their chase.

The man, some creepy dude in a flowery red and black cloak traveling in the air using some kind of clay, is stupidly easy to take on. Naruto's unsure if this is because fighting monsters in hell and training with some of the most brilliant and deadly shinobi to have ever walked the earth gave him unrealistic expectations of what a dangerous shinobi should be or if the man was just so exhausted and depleted from fighting Gaara that he was unable to put up much of a fight. He's willing to bet it's most likely the second option, given that Gaara is a jinchuriki and no pushover, but if that were the case, then why didn't this man have back up? Surely they were expecting someone to give chase; after all, you didn't just kidnap a village's jinchuriki without repercussions.

Regardless, it only takes a well-aimed Rasenshuriken to blast through the man's defenses and straight into his gut before Gaara is dropping, unconscious, from the sky.

Naruto darts down, catching his friend, his brother by circumstance, before he hits the ground. A clone poofs into existence next to him, catching the unconscious idiot who had tried to kidnap Gaara. Naruto nods at his clone, maneuvers Gaara unto his back, and both take off, heading back towards Suna.

 _ **'There's a battle up ahead.'**_

Naruto slows his pace, making sure Gaara is secure against his back, as his and Kurama's combined senses pick up the battle and they make their way over. He's confused at what he is seeing at first, before it dawns on him that they are puppets.

' _Huh, what do you know. Guess the idiot in the flowery cloak did have back up after all,'_ Naruto thinks.

 ** _'They're clouds, not flowers,'_** Kurama points out.

 _'Meh, same difference,'_ Naruto shrugs, a frown tugging at his lips as the would be kidnapper's accomplice (also wearing a flowery red and black cloak) laughs at his downed opponent.

 _ **'Are we fighting this one as well?'**_

 _'Yes. Otherwise he'll just be chasing us back to Suna. Besides, I think that might be what's his face, Gaara's brother. We should help him.'_

 ** _'You and your bleeding heart,'_** Kurama yawns in his head. **_'Well, as long as we get a good fight out of him. That last moron was a complete bore.'_**

Naruto grins, showing off too many teeth as he lowers Gaara gently to the ground and leaves him under the watchful eye of his clone, who grins at him and drops the kidnapper none to gently onto the ground.

"Kick some butt, boss," his clone says, mirroring his grin.

 _ **'It has been a while since we've gone all out.'**_

And with that thought Naruto flings one of the few kunai he has at the flowery-cloaked man, disappearing in a flash of golden light before reappearing where the kunai had landed behind the man.

"Yo," Naruto says, grinning and dodging out of the way of the attack that comes at his greeting. At least this man's reaction time is quicker than his partner's was. Naruto dodges another attack, grabs the thrown kunai from the sand (he has to hold on to the ones he has. After all, hell didn't exactly have a weapons store), and blocks a third attack.

"Who are you?" the puppet user asks as they trade a few more blows, blocking and dodging each other.

Naruto shrugs, grin widening. "Does it really matter?"

"No, I suppose not, since I'll just be killing you."

Naruto darts around the man, it's pathetically easy as he's so slow, and aims a strike that the man barely blocks.

"Confident, aren't we?" Naruto asks.

"Kid, you have no idea who you're dealing with," the man hisses. He makes a few hand signs and suddenly Naruto is surrounded by puppets on his right and left.

"Oh, come now. Three against one? How is that fair?" Naruto asks. He's not worried, but it's fun to complain.

"And now you'll die," the man says, his puppets attack from the sides as he attacks with weapons in quick succession.

As the smoke clears from the attacks the puppet master watches for the body of his adversary to fall.

"Wow, that was a lot of fire power," Naruto remarks, standing over the kunai he had dropped behind the puppet wielder during their brief spar. The puppet master spins around, his puppets moving between him and Naruto as he backs up. "And poisonous too," Naruto says, glancing at the small cut on his arm as it heals over. "Guess that means I should finish this quickly so I can get Gaara's brother home."

"You won't be finishing anything," the puppet master declares. "But you'll make a wonderful addition to my puppets."

The puppet master moves and Naruto finds himself fighting off the puppets once again. Summoning a rasengan he slams it into the first puppet, taking a blade to the arm but healing almost as quickly as the injury occurred. The poison throws him for a few precious seconds though, and he soon finds himself attacked by a cloud of sand.

"Whoa, what the?"

 ** _'Pay attention, Gaki.'_**

Naruto shunshins away from most of the attack, but his left leg takes a severe beating, coming out mangled and shredded. His eyes water slightly at the pain and he shifts all his weight to his good leg.

"How are you wielding sand?" Naruto demands as he glances down at his bloodied leg. Well, there goes the pants the toads had given him, shredded to mid thigh and stained. Oh well, it wasn't like Naruto wasn't used to wearing dirty rags at this point.

"Do you like it?" the puppet master asks, laughing. "The special technique of the third Kazekage, Iron Sand. And with the amount of poison I've infused in it, you're not long for this world now, even with your strange healing ability. That will teach you to mess with Sasori of the Red Sand!"

Naruto blinks at that, pushing away at the strange woozy feeling that Kurama kindly points out is poison and blood loss.

 _'W_ _ell, take care of it.'_

 _ **'I am, but this is potent stuff. That meat bag is right. If you were anyone else, you'd be long dead.'**_

 _'Yeah, yeah, glad I have you.'_

Kurama huffs in his head, grumbling about ungrateful brats, but Naruto turns his focus back to the battle where the puppet master, Sasori, is still talking.

"You're Sasori?!" Naruto exclaims, feigning shock.

"Yes!" Sasori declares. "It is I, the grand master of thousands of puppets!"

Naruto tilts his head to one side, squinting slightly. "Never heard of you."

"W what?" Sasori asks, faltering in his speech and sounding offended.

Naruto shrugs. "Nope, but thanks for talking while I got that poison worked out."

Naruto shakes out his left leg, testing it out and deciding it'll do. It's still tender and Kurama is still grumbling about the poison but he's sure he won't pass out now at any sudden movements. Relatively sure, at least.

"Well, if I'm fighting the puppet of a Kazekage I guess I can't hold back." Bringing his hands into a ram seal, Naruto releases one of the clones he had created upon arriving near Suna, taking in the Sage chakra it was collecting.

"I don't understand," Sasori says. "How are you still alive?"

"I'm quite hard to kill," Naruto says, feeling the nature chakra swirl within him before summoning up Kurama's chakra as well. The golden cloak forms around him and the combination banishes the rest of the dizziness from the poison. With a grin, Naruto forms another shadow clone and goes on the offensive.

The Kazekage puppet is no push over and it takes a tricky bit of dancing away from the sand, along with several more close scrapes, but Naruto finally manages to get a hit on the Kazekage puppet with a Rasenshuriken. The satisfying explosion that results from said puppet being torn apart is worth it the short hard battle that just took place.

"Well, you'll find I don't go down easy," Sasori declares, raising his arms and sending a slew of puppets towards Naruto.

Naruto dances around these new puppets, working together with his clones to take the puppets out, making sure to destroy them quite thoroughly.

"I'll admit you're rather tough to take down," Naruto says, dodging the attacks of three puppets before taking them out with Senjutsu powered hits to the chest area. "But that might be because you're also a puppet."

"I – What?" Sasori asks, spinning around to find himself face to face with another Naruto. "How?"

"You've been fighting my clones for the past five minutes," Naruto explains. "Needed the distraction while I made this!"

Naruto slams his bloody palm onto the Sasori puppet's chest, blasting through it and into the chest of the puppet hiding beneath, slapping his palm against Sasori's core, where Naruto had sensed the essence of the puppet master's chakra. A flash of golden light illuminates the area to blinding brightness before disappearing.

The eighty or so puppets left over from Sasori's attack collapse to the ground, chakra no longer controlling them.

"Where was he even keeping all those puppets?" Naruto asks, glancing down at the uncovered Sasori.

 _ **'Seriously? You're a seal master and the idea of a storage scroll never occurred to you?'**_

"Oh, right," Naruto chuckles, rubbing at the back of his head.

"What did you do to me?" Sasori asks from his spot curled on the sand.

"Sealed your chakra," Naruto says. "And don't bother trying to figure out how to unseal it, given it's a blood seal, only I can do that. Now, if you don't mind coming with me? I've got to get Gaara and his brother back to Suna. They probably need medical attention. Or, at least, Gaara's brother probably does. Your partner too, if Suna is so inclined."

Naruto is sure that if Sasori hadn't transformed himself into a puppet he would be gaping at him right about now.

 _'You know, that's just creepy. Who changes themselves into a puppet?'_

 ** _'The moron in front of you, obviously. Although I agree that it is stupid and rather…creepy.'_**

 _"Ha! I knew you'd agree with me on something at some point!'_

 ** _'Don't get used to it.'_**

"Why would I come with you?" Sasori demands.

"Um," Naruto glances around at all the fallen puppets, eyes catching on three of his clones as they approach with Gaara, Gaara's brother, and the other flowery cloaked dude slung over their shoulders. Well, Gaara was getting a piggyback ride. Gaara's brother and the kidnapper were slung over his clone's shoulders like sacks of potatoes. "Because I asked nicely?"

The Sasori puppet blinks up at him and Naruto has to suppress the urge to shudder. It really is creepy.

"No," Sasori says.

"Oh, come on," Naruto says. "What else are you going to do?"

"I am going to defeat you!" Sasori declares, managing to stand up and flinging his arms out.

Naruto blinks at him as nothing happens. "You done?"

"I don't understand," Sasori says.

"I told you I sealed your chakra."

"But I was feeling better."

"Yeah, weakness is a side effect of the seal. Sorry about that. It doesn't tend to last very long though. Your chakra is still sealed. I wasn't lying when I said I was the only one who could release it."

Sasori's eyes narrowed at him. "Then I'll just have to defeat you without my chakra!"

He rushes forwards and Naruto, still in Sage Beast Mode as Gamakichi came to call it, side steps his attack, bringing an arm around to smash into the puppet's head. He watches as Sasori crumples to the ground.

"It would have been easier if you'd've just come with me," Naruto grumbles, bending down to haul the downed Sasori onto his shoulder before nodding at his clones. "Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** This is probably one of my favorite chapters so far. Yes, I know Naruto seems rather overpowered, however, he is 16 and has been training with his father and other powerful shinobi in the belly of the shinigami for three years now, not to mention he's friends with Kurama, so it's to be expected, at least I think so. Anyways, this chapter was fun to write. I enjoyed it. Sorry if the present tense writing style bothers you, it's how I've started both my stories and I'm not switching to past tense in the middle of them. If you don't like it, don't read. But for those who are reading, thanks! And thank you to all who have read, favorited, and followed this story, it means a lot!

Now, I've never posted this before because I figured it went without saying, but I don't own Naruto. Also, this work is unbeta'd so any mistakes are my own.

~Naruto~

The air of disbelief that surrounds him when he makes it back to Suna with the help of his clones holding onto the sand siblings and kidnappers is rather hilarious, if a little annoying.

"Can I get some help here?" Naruto asks as he approaches the gate guards, who all scramble to their feet to surround him.

"Kazekage-sama!" one of them shouts.

"Um, I'm not," Naruto looks confused, wondering why they are acting so strange. He's returning Gaara and Gaara's brother, nothing more. He's unsure what all the fuss is about.

"He's talking to me."

Naruto blinks. He recognizes that voice, vaguely, from a very distant memory of another lifetime ago, but he can't remember whose it is. One of his clones popping fixes that and Naruto spins to see Gaara stumbling slightly at the loss of his support.

"Gaara!" Naruto exclaims. "You're awake. Although you look like you're ready to fall over. Chakra exhaustion isn't something to scoff at, believe me."

 _ **'Brat, you've never been fully chakra exhausted.'**_

 _'And I've you to thank for that. Thank you.'_

"And did you say Kazekage? Really? Aw man, you got the hat before me? How is that fair? I mean, you totally deserve it; no doubt you've done amazing things, but come on! It's still totally unfair!"

"Who," Gaara finally gets in word wise as he stares incredulously at the blonde boy chattering in front of him. It couldn't be. There was no way this could be him. He died, three years ago. But there was no denying that hair or those whisker marks. "Naruto?"

"Yep!" Naruto says, finally breaking off from his rant about Gaara becoming a Kage before him. "Been awhile, hasn't it?"

"You're supposed to be dead," Gaara says.

"So I've been told," Naruto nods. "But really, I never actually died. Just…went to where dead people go?"

"Most people would call that dead," Gaara points out, still wondering how Naruto is standing before him now. If, indeed, it is Naruto. But there's no reason for it not to be, so for now, Gaara will accept that it is.

Naruto shrugs. "It's complicated. The Shinigami didn't like me much. Said I messed up his plans or ruined his meal or something. Anyways," Naruto waves his hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. "We should probably move this inside, your brother needs help and creepy puppet man here is due to wake up shortly. Maybe. Probably."

Gaara's eyes snap to the man slung over Naruto's shoulder before turning to the clones behind him and settling on the form of his brother.

"What's wrong with Kankuro?" Gaara demands.

"Kankuro, that's his name!" Naruto exclaims. "Puppet dude poisoned him. Pretty nasty stuff too. He's lucky he's not dead yet."

Gaara nods, signaling to the shinobi around them before they all begin to head into the city surrounded by Sand ANBU.

"Kazekage-sama!"

Gaara turns his head to catch sight of Baki, inclining his head at him.

"What happened?" Baki asks. "How did you-"

Gaara inclines his head towards the still chattering Naruto.

"Who's this?" Baki asks, breaking Naruto from his rants about the evils of puppets.

"Huh?" Naruto asks. He fidgets under Baki's scrutiny as the man looks him up and down, eyes lingering on his shredded and bloodied pants leg and bare feet.

"I asked who you are," Baki says.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto replies, voice implying that the information should be obvious.

Baki blinks at him, frowning as his eyes study the blonde's face once more.

"You should be dead."

Naruto shrugs. "So I've been told, but I'm not. It's a long story."

"Kankuro needs medical attention," Gaara states. "He has been poisoned."

"By this guy," Naruto says, shaking the puppet man on his shoulder. "But he doesn't have any antidote on him. I checked. Kind of stupid, if you ask me. I mean, why use poison and not carry an antidote, but well, I suppose it makes sense in his case in a way. He wouldn't need it, at least I don't think he would, considering he turned himself into a puppet and is a cree-"

"Is that Sasori?" Baki asks, cutting Naruto's rambling off and sounding alarmed.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. That's what he called himself at least."

"But, how did you?" Baki trails off, glancing at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

"Well, he was beating up on Kankuro and I didn't want him chasing after me because I beat up his friend and took Gaara back…so…yeah," Naruto shrugs, feeling rather awkward as Baki's gaze travels to his other clone, the one holding the second dude in a flowery cloak. It was strange being around a bunch of new people again. The toads had helped him adjust some, but even they were a small group of the same individuals. Now Naruto was surrounded by new people on all sides and quite of few of them were leaking negative emotions such as fear, distrust, and dislike. It was distracting and not altogether very pleasant.

Plus, Sasori was heavy. He was ready to get to where ever they were heading and get away from all the villagers, no matter that they were Gaara's people, and dump the heavy puppet master on the ground.

"Right, well," Baki looks completely out of his element, but leads the way into the tower all the same. Gaara follows quietly, still looking rather tired, but his frequent glances at his downed brother inform Naruto that he is worried as well.

They had just reached the medical wing when Sasori begins to stir, lifting his head from where it was flopping against Naruto's back.

"What?"

"Oh, hey," Naruto says, stopping where he was and dropping Sasori on the ground. "You're awake. About time. Like, seriously, you weigh a ton, I mean, why would you weigh that much, honestly? Plus, I really didn't think it was possible to knock a puppet out. That's weird."

Naruto watches as his clone deposits Kankuro onto the indicated pallet before dispelling. He blinks as the memories of sore muscles and a long run wash over him, but shakes it off. It was nowhere near as bad as what he'd dealt with before. The dispelling of his second clone as he drops his burden makes Naruto's head ache, but still was no where near what he'd experienced before.

"How did you?" Sasori begins again, looking around to find himself surrounded by Sand ANBU, his partner unconscious next to him.

"You really should learn to finish your sentences," Naruto says. "Otherwise you'll just confuse people."

A lot of fuss is made around the bed with Kankuro lying in it before a runner is sent to fetch someone named Chiyo-sama and Gaara and Baki make their way back towards Naruto.

"Do you know the antidote to your poison?" Baki demands.

Sasori offers a sly smile. "There is no antidote."

"Nonsense," Baki says. "Every poison has an antidote. You will tell us how to treat this poison."

"No," Sasori replies. "I will not."

"You will," Baki says.

"Not."

"You will," Gaara says this time, stepping forward threateningly.

"I would listen to him," Naruto says. "Gaara's pretty scary when he's mad. Plus, he's Kazekage now. Probably the only hope you have of not being executed."

Three pairs of eyes turn to look at Naruto in surprise.

"What?"

"What are you talking about?" Baki asks.

"Well, I figured you could work out some kind of deal and Sasori could come to Suna on probation or something. Like, quit the evil flowery cloaks organization and everything."

"Why would I do that?" Sasori demands.

"I think they're clouds," Baki mutters.

Naruto shrugs. "It was just a thought."

"I'm not going to betray the Akatsuki."

"It doesn't bode well for you if you don't," Naruto says, tucking his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his feet.

"We're not reforming him," Baki says. Naruto half expects him to stomp his foot like a three year old. He's actually kind of disappointed he doesn't.

"Why not?"

"He's evil!"

"He's also pretty powerful," Naruto points out. "I think. Right?" His brow furrows as he glances at Sasori. "Yeah. Pretty powerful. Mostly. Except all his puppets are still out in the desert. Unless he has more, which is possible. He still has some storage scrolls on him, among other things."

"Yet another reason we can't have him running around," Baki argues.

Naruto shrugs. "He can't do anything right now. His chakra's sealed."

Sasori scowls at him and Gaara raises an eyebrow.

"Anyways," Naruto says, waving his hand dismissively once more. "That doesn't matter. We were asking you for the antidote."

"There isn't one," Sasori says. "And even if there was, I wouldn't tell you."

"Now you just sound like some two year old not getting his way," Naruto replies.

"What? I do not!"

"What is going on here?"

The group turns towards the advancing old woman as she makes her way towards the infirmary.

"Lady Chiyo," Baki says, inclining his head towards the old woman. "Thank you for coming."

"I hear there's been a poisoning," Chiyo says. "So of course I-is that Sasori?"

"Hello, grandmother," Sasori sneers.

"Hey!" Naruto protests. "You shouldn't talk to your family that way. It's rude."

Chiyo blinks at her grandson, noting how he doesn't look a day older than the day he left, before glancing at the loud blonde boy, eyes noting the rather battered Konoha hitai-ate keeping his chin length hair from his eyes.

"Who are you?" Chiyo demands.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto says.

Chiyo narrows her eyes at him. "And why are you here?"

"Good question," Sasori mutters, crossing his arms with a frown on his face. He is largely ignored.

"I came to help a fellow jinchuriki out when Kurama told me he was in trouble."

 _ **'Brat, don't go spouting my name off to everyone.'**_

 _'Oh, oops. Sorry.'_

"You're a jinchuriki too?" Sasori asks. "Of which tailed beast?"

Naruto grins, showing off his canines. "The nine tails."

Sasori's eyes narrow. "The nine tails jinchuriki was killed three years ago."

Naruto sighs. "Yeah, so I've been told. Let's just say I got better."

"You got better." It was not a question, merely a dumbfounded statement from the Akatsuki member.

"Yes," Naruto answers anyways. "Now, are you going to help us or be completely useless?"

"I'm not helping any of you," Sasori says.

"Sasori," Chiyo says, stepping closer to her grandson.

"I don't want to hear it," Sasori snaps.

Chiyo sighs, but shakes her head. "Where is the patient?"

"This way, Lady Chiyo," Baki says, shooting a glare at Sasori as he leads the old woman away.

Sasori glances between Naruto and Gaara, realizing he was left with the jinchuriki. With a grin he lunges at the two boys, intent on capturing them, but he stumbles on his cloak, falling flat on his face.

"Really?" Naruto asks as Gaara stares down at the man apathetically. "What were you trying to accomplish?"

Gaara shakes his head, signaling to two ANBU nearby before gesturing to Sasori and his partner. "Take them away," Gaara says. "I'll decide what to do with them later."

"Ooh, hang on," Naruto says, reaching out and, completely ignoring Gaara's personal space, he grabs the Kazekage's wrist and slashes a kunai across both their fingers before reaching the hand still gripping Gaara's forward to smear their blood on Sasori's chest. There's a flare of brilliant gold chakra before it disperses, leaving the occupants in the hallway blinking spots from their eyes.

Immediately Naruto finds several weapons pointing his way by the ANBU not in charge of holding Sasori or the other Akatsuki member.

"What have you done?" one ANBU demands, the tip of his tanto poking at Naruto's jugular.

 ** _'You know, kit, you really should state your intentions before acting on them.'_**

 _'Uh, yeah. That wasn't quite my best idea.'_

Gaara stares down at the tip of his finger, which has already healed over, before looking up at Naruto, a question in his eyes even as his expression doesn't change.

"I transferred control of his chakra sealing seal to you," Naruto explains. "Wow, say that five times fast. Chakra sealing seal, chakra sealing seal-"

"Why would you do that?"

Naruto turns, ignoring the weapons still pointed at him, to catch sight of Chiyo and Baki standing in the doorway to the room Kankuro is in.

"Uh, because?" Naruto says, not quite understanding why they are so shocked over it.

"Why would you give that up?" Chiyo insists. "You could have used that fact against us to get anything you wanted."

Naruto furrows his brow at this, glancing at Gaara in complete confusion. "Why would I do that?"

Gaara's lips twitch in the barest hint of a smile, gesturing for the ANBU to lower their weapons as Chiyo gaps at Naruto.

Looking back at Chiyo, Naruto shrugs. "Besides, aren't Konoha and Suna allies? Uh, you guys are allies, right? I mean, I have been gone for a while and there was kind of that attack and stuff, so I'm not sure, but I'm kinda hoping you are cause that would be really kinda awkward if you weren't and I-"

"We're allies," Gaara interrupts, lips twitching once more.

"Oh, see, good," Naruto says with a nod. "Allies. And as allies, we help each other out, right? It's the right thing to do."

Chiyo snorts. "This so called alliance is nothing more than a cease fire until one of us becomes stronger than the other."

"Well that's stupid," Naruto says. "Everyone knows you're stronger with allies. Anyways, Gaara. The hand seals are Rat, Dog, Tiger, a slice of your finger, then place your palm on his chest to release the seal."

Gaara inclines his head. "Thank you."

"Rat, Dog, Tiger," Sasori chants, slamming his own palm against his chest.

"Uh," Naruto glances down at him. "Gaara's the one with the ability to release the seal, not you."

"How do you even know how to create such a seal," Sasori demands, kicking a leg out like a pouting two year old. Naruto stifles a snicker at that. "Fuuinjutsu is a lost art."

Naruto shrugs, grinning. "I found a couple of good teachers."

"What about that one?" Baki asks, glancing down at the still unconscious form of the other Akatsuki member.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about him," Naruto says, toeing at the unconscious man. "His chakra network's been destroyed. Shouldn't be causing anyone any trouble when he wakes up. Well, he should wake up. I think. Maybe."

Gaara raises an eyebrow at that and Naruto shrugs once more. "One of the side effects of a jutsu of mine, I think. Never used it on a person before, so not a hundred percent positive. Don't know who he is, but you can do whatever you want with him, as he was the one actively attempting to flee with you."


	11. Chapter 11

"There is nothing you can do?"

Naruto, having just finished getting cleaned up and changed into a new pair of pants (which was amusing to him, considering he'd just received the last pair not too long ago), pauses at the door to the infirmary at Gaara's voice.

"I'm afraid not," the old hag, Chiyo, replies. "But, there is another who was better at dealing with poisons than myself. If anyone can help him, it would be her. Tsunade Senju of Konoha."

Naruto tilts his head at that, attempting to place the name with those he knew in Konoha and failing.

"She's the Hokage," Gaara says.

"What?" Naruto yelps, causing both Gaara and Chiyo to glance at him, startled by his presence. Neither had heard, nor sensed him. "What happened to the old man?"

Gaara stares at Naruto. His fellow jinchuriki is looking better after the shower and change of clothes, but he's still paler than he ever remembered seeing the boy, and the clothes hang loose on his thin frame. The longer hair, though, suits him.

"He retired," Gaara explains. "Shortly after you were declared dead."

"Oh," Naruto says. "And this Tsunade lady can help Kankuro?"

"She's always been the best healer when it comes to poisons," Chiyo confirms, though it looks as though that statement costs her dearly. "However, not only is the fact that she is Hokage troublesome, but Konoha is three days travel from here. Kankuro only has about that long and he would not survive transport."

Naruto takes this in, a frown on his face before eyes hardening with determination. "I'll get her here."

"Child, that is impossible," Chiyo dismisses.

Naruto clenches his jaw, turning to meet Gaara's gaze. "I'm not going to let Kankuro die. I'll get her here."

Gaara holds Naruto's gaze for several seconds before bowing his head in a nod. "What do you need?"

"I-" Naruto pauses at that. He was so used to having nothing but what was on hand. _'What do I need?'_

 _ **'Some paper and ink would not go amiss if you plan on using the Hiraishin to travel,'**_ Kurama states. **_'It would be easier than carving the seal into your hand.'_**

 _'You're just sick of healing me, aren't you?'_

Kurama yawns in his mind. _**'Carve that seal into your hand enough and even my healing abilities will not be able to keep you from scarring. Also, you need something to eat before you go. Or at least, while you go.'**_

 _'I'm not hungry,'_ Naruto thinks, blinking at the idea of being able to request food.

 ** _'You should be. It has been nearly half a day since you've eaten anything.'_**

 _'It has? Right.'_

"Naruto?" Gaara asks, prodding the blonde from his internal discussion.

"Uh, yeah. Some paper and ink, if you have it, and maybe something to eat?"

"Of course," Gaara states, motioning to an ANBU to bring the requested items. "Anything else?"

"Shoes?" Chiyo puts in, glancing at the boy's bare feet.

Naruto wiggles his toes before shaking his head. "Haven't worn shoes in almost three years, they'll just slow me down at this point. Just paper, ink, and something to eat."

~Naruto~

Kurama's chakra cloaks Naruto as he stands at Suna's gates, fixing a Hiraishin seal there.

"Don't let anyone bother this until I get back," he instructs Gaara.

"Of course," Gaara says.

"Right," Naruto says. "Three days. I'll be back before then."

"Naruto," Gaara's call halts Naruto's preparation for his journey. Turning back to his fellow jinchuriki, he raises an eyebrow. "Thank you."

Naruto smiles, reaching out to grasp Gaara's hand with his own. Gaara's eyes widen slightly as the warm golden chakra encloses his hand. The feeling was nice, calm and soothing and made him believe Naruto could do anything.

"Three days," Naruto says once more. "I won't fail."

Gaara nods, taking a step back. "Good luck."

And in a flash of golden light, Naruto is gone.


	12. Chapter 12

"Do you think we'll be able to do anything?" Sakura asks as she follows the punishing speed Kakashi has set for them through the forests and towards Suna.

Temari turns a glare towards her. "We better be able to," she says.

Sakura bites her lip, sending an apologetic looks towards Temari.

"We'll do everything we can to assist Suna in whatever they need assistance with," Kakashi says. "We just ne-"

"Down!" Sasuke calls out, dropping from the trees with the others right behind them. Having been in the lead position to watch for any attacks against them with his sharingan, he had been the first to sense and see the attack launched against them.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Sakura feels the hairs on the back of her neck prickle at that voice.

"You may have dodged that attack, but Jashin won't allow it to happen again," a second voice speaks.

"Back off, idiot, this is my fight," the first puts in.

"Mah, sorry to cut this short, but we're in a hurry," Kakashi says, the chirping of his chidori echoed through the forest as his attack pierces through the first speaker's chest.

"Yes, and we're here to stop you," the first speaker states, turning his head slightly to look at a stunned Kakashi with a malicious grin.

Kakashi jumps back just in time to avoid the swing of the massive sword aimed his way.

"How come you get this fight?" the second man sneers. "I'm the one that got them to let us out to play."

"Because you're an idiot," the first man states, stepping to the side as Sasuke launches towards him with his own chidori.

"Jashin is going to-Ooof."

The second man goes flying through the trees, slamming through several of them before digging a grove in the ground with his body and coming to a rest.

Temari whistles. "Nice shot."

"Thanks," Sakura says, rotating her arm slightly and staring at the man she'd just punted half a mile.

"Like I said," the first man states, dodging a combined attack from both Kakashi and Sasuke only to be hit with a massive blast of air by Temari. "An idiot."

Thick grey tendrils sprout from his body and break off, forming a sort of monstrous beaked bipedal creature that charges straight at Sakura and Temari. The two girls dodge, releasing a volley of weapons at the creature as Sasuke and Kakashi chase after the man, sharingans activated, movements coordinated.

They trade blows for several minutes, both Sasuke and Kakashi landing what feels like several solid hits on the man.

The man releases a wind attack at his opponents, causing them to split up before attacking once more, Sasuke sending great fireballs towards the enemy shinobi while Kakashi flashes through the hand seals for the water prison technique.

Temari and Sakura dodge another attack as the creature rushes towards them, circling around behind it to hit it once more. The creature spins to face them, spitting out with near waterfall force a jet of water, causing both girls to duck and dodge.

"What is this thing?" Temari demands.

There's cussing coming from the direction of the man Sakura had punted off and a second later he storms onto the scene, blaring obscenities at his partner and smacking the creature out of his way before turning to face the two female shinobi himself.

"That's quite the punch you pack," he snarls. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."

He rushes forward, scythe in hand, and swings at the two girls, causing them to dodge once more.

With the loss of its original targets, the creature spins back to face its creator and turns its attention on the two shinobi attacking him.

Behind Sasuke and Kakashi and with the both of them focused on the opponent in front of them, it charges up an attack.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura calls out in warning, ducking a flick of her opponent's scythe but receiving a scratch to her cheek for her distraction.

Kakashi spins, allowing Sasuke to pass him with his attack at their opponent as he moves to intercept the creature's attack. A final twist of chakra and the creature is encased in a bubble of water, sealing it in. Sasuke's attack with his sword cuts clean through their opponent's arm, causing the appendage to fall to the ground with a wet squelch. Both shinobi take a moment to catch their breath.

The water prison breaks and their opponent begins laughing, grey tendrils reaching out to the severed arm and pulling it back to its rightful place.

"You can't beat us," the second man boasts, dodging another of Temari's attacks as he scratches something into the soil with his weapon. "As Jashin wills it, we are immortal."

"Nobody's immortal," Sakura refutes, moving forward in an attack only to find she can't.

The man before her laughs. "Link complete."

Temari sends a kunai at the man, watching as it buries itself into his arm, but it isn't her opponent who cries out in pain, it's Sakura. Temari spins, eyes widening as she looks at her friend.

"What?" she asks.

"Now I can have fun killing you," the man laughs. "Don't worry, it will only hurt a lot."

He raises his scythe, a feral grin on his changed features, when a blur of gold crashes into him, sending Sakura crashing to the ground and the man through several more trees and into a second trench in the ground.

The golden blur glances down at the seal on the ground and crouches. A burst of chakra later and the seal shatters, causing ripples to course through the ground and the man who created it to scream in shocked outrage.

"Who?" Sakura begins, accepting Temari's help to her feet even as the man coated in gold races at the other opponent, a shrieking, racing ball of pure chakra forming in his hand, pulling wind into itself before the man throws the wind and chakra construct.

The attack strikes the newly freed creature, ripping through its back as it shrieks and writhes, collapsing in on itself.

Its creator cries out, staggering slightly, and backs off as the golden cloaked man comes to rest between him and the others.

"Se-sensei?" Kakashi's whispered disbelief is barely audible as they watch their opponent take another step back, glower, and whirl around.

"Going somewhere?" the newcomer asks. His voice is strange and familiar, known and unknown all at once.

"Tch," their opponent scoffs. "Hidan, we're leaving!"

"What! This is not what Jashin wills you f-"

The rest is cut off as the two enemy ninja disappear.

The newcomer relaxes his stance, golden aura fading as he turns to face them.

"Yo."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Sorry it's been so long! I can't promise I'll finish this one or my other fic, but I'll post what I have. Hope you enjoy!

~Naruto~

 ** _'_** ** _That's how you greet them after three years?'_** Kurama asks, shaking his head in disbelief before beginning to laugh.

Naruto gives a half shrug at that, lips twitching into a smile at the looks of disbelief on the faces of his old teammates.

" _Naruto?_ "

It's Sakura who breaks the silence first, unable to tear her eyes away from the blue-eyed blonde standing in front of them. He'd lost weight, quite a bit of it if the way the clothes hung on his frame said anything, and his hair was longer, a spikey mess of blonde that came down to his chin and brushed his shoulders in the back. And he was pale. Paler than Sakura had ever seen him before.

But it was undoubtedly Naruto.

"Uh, hey guys, long time no see."

"You're supposed to be dead." This comes from Sasuke as he stares at the figure of his friend, sharingan still activated in the hopes of revealing the jutsu responsible for creating this impossibility.

"Good to see you too, jerk," Naruto says. "And yeah, so I've been told. But I never actually _died_ …so it's kinda hard to be dead."

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?" Sasuke demands, glaring at the other boy.

"Naruto," Kakashi near whispers before clearing his throat. He, too, still has his sharingan activated, wanting to make sure this wasn't an elaborate henge or genjutsu. "The Sandaime informed us you were sacrificed to the Shinigami."

"Well yeah," Naruto says, shrugging as if that's the most obvious thing in the world. "But the Shinigami didn't like me much and considering I didn't actually _die_ to get there…"

"So the Shinigami just let you come back here?" Sakura asks, sounding skeptical.

"Well, it did take three years," Naruto says. "But-"

 ** _'_** ** _Kit, need I remind you that we are on a deadline?'_**

"Crap! I've got to go," Naruto tells the others in the clearing with him.

"Go where?" Sasuke asks. There's no evidence that this _isn't_ Naruto, except for the fact that he's much more powerful than he had any right to be. Oh, and that he's supposed to be dead.

"I've got to get to Konoha and get some old hag, Tsunade, to come back to Suna with me."

All four other shinobi in the clearing choke at that.

"Old hag?" Sakura whispers faintly, just imagining what Lady Tsunade would say to that.

"What were you doing in Suna?" Temari demands just as Kakashi asks:

"Go back to Suna?"

"Uh yeah, well, I was heading to Konoha when the toads summoned me, and then I trained with them until Kurama told me that Shukaku was in trouble, so I had the toads dump me in Suna and rescued Gaara only his brother, Kankuro, got poisoned by this evil puppet dude and Granny Chiyo doesn't know how to make an antidote and the puppet dude says there is no antidote and apparently the new hokage is the best when it comes to poisons and antidotes and sort of might be Kankuro's only hope, so I'm on my way to get her and bring her back so that she can help him and I only have two days so yeah, I really should get going."

"Uh," Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura all blink.

"What do you mean, you only have two days?" Temari demands, latching onto the part of the story that at least made some sort of sense.

"That's how much longer Granny Chiyo said Kankuro has."

Temari pales at that. "It'll take you that long to get to Konoha. Not to mention the return travel."

"The return trip will be faster," Naruto says. "But I've got to leave now if we're going to make it back in time."

"Naruto," Sakura says, choosing to ignore the nonsensical story for the moment and let Kakashi and Sasuke puzzle it out instead. "Lady Tsunade is Hokage. She can't just up and disappear from the village."

Naruto turns to look at her and she's taken aback by the determination in his eyes. "I promised Gaara I'd make it back with help in time. I won't go back on my promise."

"You go, Sakura," Kakashi says.

"Me?" Sakura squeaks, surprised at her sensei's words.

"Sakura?" Naruto asks, glancing between his old sensei and his old teammate.

Kakashi nods, turning to face Sakura and setting aside the whole "this is impossible" chant that is running through his head. "You've trained with Tsunade. She even told me she's taught you everything she knows about poisons and creating antidotes. If anyone can help Kankuro, it's you."

"But can she do it?" Temari asks. She knows Sakura has trained with Lady Tsunade, but if even Lady Chiyo is stumped, will Lady Tsunade's apprentice really be able to help?

"Yes," Sakura says, swallowing. "I'll do my best."

Naruto is staring wide eyed between Kakashi and Sakura, but he closes his mouth and nods. "Okay," he says. "Let's go."

Sakura reels at that, at the trust Naruto has just placed in her, merely because she said she'd try. At Naruto's gesture she climbs carefully onto his back.

"Hold on tight, Sakura," Naruto says. "The rest of you can catch up to us in Suna," Naruto continues, that warm, flickering golden chakra flaring to life around him once more, dancing around Sakura as well. "And try not to run into any more flowery cloaked weirdoes on the way. They're annoying to deal with."

And with a flash of brilliant golden light, the duo is gone, leaving Kakashi, Sasuke, and Temari staring at an empty spot in the forest.

"Hiraishin, huh? Still Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja," Kakashi murmurs before heaving a sigh. "Well, you heard him. Let's go meet them at Suna."

"I'm pretty sure they were clouds," Sasuke mutters, falling into place at the head of their group and taking to the trees once more.

~Naruto~

Sakura is pretty sure she's going to be sick. Naruto's moving at speeds she didn't believe possible, in fact, she's sure they're jumping from one point to another and her stomach is churning and her head is spinning and she really wishes she hadn't eaten that ration bar an hour ago because she's going to be sick.

"Almost there, Sakura," Naruto calls to her as if he knows exactly what she is thinking.

"Hnn," Sakura groans, pressing her face into Naruto's shoulder and resisting the urge to vomit. The golden chakra helps to soothe some of her discomfort and she's positive that without it she would have puked long ago.

The world tilts, squeezes, and blurs once more. Sakura groans again and feels Naruto's grip tighten on her slightly as her own grip loosens.

 _"_ _How do I get myself into these messes?"_ Sakura asks herself as Naruto's feet hit solid ground once more and he races off, running for a short time. It seems impossible to her that any of this is happening. Seems impossible that she could be here, clutching onto Naruto and racing to save the Kazekage's brother.

 _"_ _Maybe I'm dreaming,"_ she thinks to herself as she feels that bubbling of chakra building up in Naruto once more before the world vanishes in a tilting, squeezing, blur. _"The only problem with that theory,"_ she gasps as the world reforms once more, sand surrounding them now. _"Is that I don't think even_ I _could dream up something like this."_

And really, she knows she couldn't. Naruto is breathing heavily beneath her now, the arms holding her tremble slightly and still he runs on, his pace not slowing. Sakura can feel his muscles rippling beneath her, can feel the fact that he is thin, too thin, and presses her face into his bony shoulder once more. No, she could never imagine something like this.

The world tilts and squeezes and blurs once more, but this time, when it rights itself, Naruto stops. He's trembling, not enough to notice visibly, but Sakura can feel the tremors running through him. Sweat tracks down his face and neck and back and Sakura would feel disgusted if she wasn't busy attempting to get down before she pukes on him.

Naruto seems to sense her urgency and lowers her to the ground, reaching out to steady her as she bends over and retches. He holds her steady, making sure to pull her hair away from her face and Sakura would be thankful if she wasn't busy trying to expel everything she'd eaten in the past ten years.

The heaving slows and Sakura allows herself to be pulled away from the mess before she is lowered onto shadowed sand and a water flask is pushed into her view.

"Sorry," Naruto says. "The Hiraishin does that. Especially the first few times."

Sakura can only nod as she brings the water to her lips and sips, rinsing her mouth with the first mouthful before taking several large gulps of the cool liquid.

"Here."

Sakura looks up once more to find a packet of crackers in front of her face.

"Eat."

Her stomach twists at the idea and she shakes her head.

"Trust me," Naruto says. "It'll help."

Sakura looks up into blue eyes and blonde hair. Into a face she hasn't seen in three years, and questions why she was so quick to trust him in the forest, why she'd been so quick to jump on his back and just go. She wasn't even sure he was really her old teammate, but then again…

She reaches up, accepting the crackers and nibbling one as Naruto does likewise, eyes roving the area around them. Sakura looks around too, noticing they are in a small cave in the desert and she wonders just how far they had come. Naruto hadn't lied when he said the return trip would be quicker.

She nibbles another cracker, quickly realizing that Naruto had been right and her stomach was slowly settling down. She finishes a few more crackers and the water and feels significantly better, slowly pushing herself to her feet beside Naruto.

"Thanks," she says. Part of her feels she should be embarrassed that she'd puked like that, but there was something about the knowing look, the empathy in Naruto's gaze that tells her feeling embarrassed is ridiculous.

"You handled that a lot better than I did my first time," Naruto says, a small smile curling at his lips. "I puked for ten minutes before passing out for three hours."

Sakura blinks at that, feeling surprised and not knowing why.

"Yeah, well," she says, but doesn't know what else to say. "Uh, how far away are we?"

"Just one more jump," Naruto says. "But I figured you wouldn't want that show on display for all of Gaara's ANBU so I stopped here. We have the time."

And Sakura feels extremely grateful to him for that consideration because he was right, she wouldn't have wanted to puke her guts out in front of complete strangers like that. Nor risk passing out for a few hours in front of them all.

"We should get going," Sakura says, eyes turning to the desert once more. "The sooner I can start treating the poison, the better."

But as Sakura looks, really looks, at Naruto, she begins to hesitate. He looks exhausted and she's sure he's still trembling from said exhaustion.

"We could wait a bit, though," she backtracks. Naruto needs a break, she can see that now.

Naruto's lips curl into a smile once more, his blue eyes sparkling. "Thanks, Sakura, but I'll be alright," he says, turning to crouch down for her to climb on his back once more. "Besides, I want out of this desert."

Sakura can't place the emotion in his voice and she wants to object to them continuing on when Naruto clearly needs a break, but Naruto chuckles, looking back at her.

"It's only one more jump," he says. "Trust me, it won't be as bad as a bunch all strung together."

And Sakura understands he thinks she's hesitating because of herself, but she doesn't move to correct him. She'll insist he gets some rest as soon as they get to Suna. And something to eat. Something more than crackers.


End file.
